God Uses His People | Nehemiah 3:1–32

Amen.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Well, good morning and uh welcome.

We're glad you're here.

It's good to see you.

My name's Andrew, one of the pastors here here at Life, and uh it's an honor to serve you today and be here together with you.

If we haven't met, I'd love to meet you.

Uh if uh that would be on your uh one of your desires.

We certainly want to make ourselves available as pastors and serve you and uh contribute to your discipleship in any way uh that we can.

I know a couple of announcements have already been made, but let me just before I jump into in fact, uh my clock's already started, so you're gonna give me a couple extra minutes from my clock countdown, because I want to share just two things with you that you you need to know.

First of all, several weeks ago we mentioned the Nepal catastrophe, uh the flooding that happened in Nepal, and and it was really on the queue for me to tell you last week, and for whatever reason, I completely forgot uh to say it to you, but there is a way that we can help Nepal.

And uh our pastor connection, Pastor Timothy, and his son Samuel are serving families in the the destroyed area.

And and that these families are not, it's not a quick fix.

It's not they're gonna go put a couple pieces of spackle on some wall and fix it.

Their homes are gone, their living is gone, their automobiles are gone, and in many cases, some of their family is gone, and these pastors and churches want to serve them.

And so some of you have asked, how can we serve, how can we give to that?

In in what we're doing, there's two things.

We're sending a team, a couple of people to Nepal.

This was already in the works before the flooding happened.

Uh, two or three or four of our uh team is gonna go down to Nepal to help minister to some of the students in November.

It was a it was a quick trip.

They asked if we would be willing.

We said yes, and so this is lining up where we could bring some to help them.

And so anything that is given through missions today, uh in our missions category.

So if you give into missions through the app or whatever, uh that money is gonna go and be given to Timothy and Samuel to actually get right into the homes and families and churches of people affected by uh the flooding.

So just so you know that we want to be there, we want to serve them, and we want to be a blessing in in helping them.

The second thing I want to mention to you is these vision nights that are coming up.

And I know that we've talked a lot about these and we've kept some of it close to the chest, and just saying, here's what we're gonna talk about on that night.

We we we want to share some things that are happening.

And uh, some of you assume there's like three or four things that we think that God is doing that we want to share in a smaller setting.

So, what we've decided to do as the leadership is just give two weeks of evenings to trying to gather groups of about 40 people from our church in different homes around the valley.

And actually, I think we have a map that may show those homes.

I think it's up there.

Uh, yep.

So these are the different places we tried to put some.

Uh apparently we don't love Henderson or East Las Vegas.

Uh, don't take read into that.

That is not what is being said.

Uh there were some reasons, but there's two down when we talk about Mountain's Edge, those are the stars down in the south.

We've got two up in the Spring Valley area, one in Summerlin and two up north.

Uh, I'm hosting one at my house, so we are taking this pretty serious.

We're trying to actually get uh the entire church to come and hear what God is up to, and there's some things that we want to share with you in a smaller context.

And so listen, if you have said, I'm not gonna sign up, I'm just gonna show up.

That's not how it works.

If you show up without signing up, we're closing the door and kicking you out.

We're probably not gonna do that, but we would prefer that you would go ahead and sign up, let us know you're coming so we can prepare for you properly.

And I think there's a couple hundred people that have signed up.

We would love to have a couple hundred more sign up for that at least so that we can share with you what we think God is up to.

And you could be new to the church, you're welcome.

You don't have to have there's not, there's not this not the in-crowd.

This isn't the select few.

Uh, this is open to everybody.

Come be a part of this.

We think it's important.

So reset my clock.

Okay?

I got, yep, there we go.

It's reset.

So don't look backwards.

I know some of you look back to see how much time I got left.

Don't do that.

I noticed that.

Nehemiah chapter three.

Let's go there.

Nehemiah chapter three.

We're in a study of Nehemiah.

Uh, we are considering what God has to say to us uh from this Old Testament, uh, this Old Testament historical book and what God was doing in the nation of Israel, what God is doing uh and wanting us to learn today.

Here, here's what I love about studying Old Testament is that God of the New Testament is still the God of the Old Testament.

The people and principles and wisdom that God wanted his people to live by in the Old Testament is still true and applicable today in the New Testament.

So don't ever get this idea that, well, they live in the Old Testament, they're different than us.

Actually, we're gonna see throughout our study that people are people, and uh we are all broken, old or new Testament, and we need the wisdom that God brings.

Now, just to get us caught up with where we are, God chose the nation of Israel, not merely to give them a particular piece of land.

Let's take that out of our mind.

That's not merely what he intended to do.

He actually called them to belong to him, to represent him among the nations, to be his representatives.

If you remember at Mount Sinai, God told the nation of Israel in Exodus chapter 19, verses 5 and verse 6, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Exodus 19:5

What he's saying there is that you are meant to be distinct.

You are mine, you're my people.

Not, and we know this if we know the Old Testament, because they were inherently better than the nations around them.

That's not why.

But they were to be distinct because they belonged to the Lord.

Their laws, their worship, their relationships, the the way that they uh dealt with people with mercy and justice and holiness, they were all meant to reveal the character of their God.

And God called Abraham so that through the descendants of Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Isaiah said that God's servant would be a light for the nations so that his salvation might reach the ends of the earth.

And Israel was called then, and the fulfillment of that was through the line of Abraham and the Jewish line would come the Savior.

Israel was called to live among the nations while at the same time showing the nations what it looked like to belong to God.

That was the whole point.

But we know that over time Israel forgot who they were.

They worshiped the gods of the surrounding nations.

They adopted the practices of the surrounding nations, they trusted the power of the surrounding nations' militaries, and they tolerated injustice in their city, just like the surrounding nations.

And the people of God, who had been called to be distinct, became increasingly indistinguishable from the people around them that they were living among.

They had been called to reflect God's holiness, but they rebelled against God's word.

They were called to display God's glory, but they exchanged his glory for idols made with hands.

They had been called to bless the nations, but instead they imitated the nations.

And we know the story.

Eventually, God brought the judgment that he had repeatedly warned them about.

We studied this a couple weeks ago.

So, Babylonian uh military invaded, Jerusalem fell, the temple was destroyed, and the people of the nation of Israel who belonged to God were carried into exile.

And even after all of that, God was merciful to them and he changed the heart of Cyrus, and they began to return home.

That was a king who held them in captivity.

And then when the Persians conquered Babylon, Artaxerxes was the one who was in charge, and God began to work in Artaxerxes' heart, and now that the nation of Israel or remnants of the nation of Israel were allowed to come home.

And even after some of the people returned to Jerusalem, the city walls remained broken, and its city gates burned.

Those walls, though, remember this, were more than damaged stones.

They were more than just aesthetic problems.

The broken walls were a visible reminder of their spiritual collapse.

The broken walls displayed the consequences of their sin.

They represented vulnerability and disgrace and the loss of what Jerusalem was intended to display.

So to the surrounding nations, Jerusalem had become a place of shame and mockery and disrespect or disregard to what God was doing.

And the city that bore God's name lay exposed and dishonored.

That is why Nehemiah in chapter 1 was so deeply burdened when he heard the report of the broken down walls.

He was not just upset because Jerusalem needed a construction project.

The broken walls testified that God's people were not living in the fullness of the identity and the purpose that God had given them to live in.

Now let's connect this to us for a second.

We must be careful here.

The church is not ancient Israel, and our mission is not to build physical walls around ourselves.

In fact, Jesus did not call us to withdraw from the world and barricade ourselves in or to create Christian fortresses.

He calls us actually to go into the world.

But the New Testament deliberately uses Israel identity language to describe those who belong to Christ.

Just as God said the nation of Israel was going to be a nation of priests and holy people, Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter 2 that we, the church, are a chosen race.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Not a race in color of skin or nationality, but the fact that we are a people that have been chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

That from all nations and tribes and tongues, we are now one new body, that we are a royal priesthood.

And verse 9 says, so that this purpose would be accomplished, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light.

So just as the nation of Israel was to live among the nations and declare the glory and goodness and grace of God to the surrounding nations, so in this age the church is to do that and be that for the glory of God.

Jesus says to his disciples, You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

The church is called to be a distinct people, a people that displays the character and proclaims the excellencies of our King.

We live in the world, but we are belonging to another kingdom.

We are here as a church to represent Christ, to embody his holiness, to proclaim his gospel, to demonstrate his love and to make him known.

That's why we exist.

But what happens when the church begins to look like the world around it?

What happens when truth is compromised, when holiness is abandoned, when worship becomes empty, when prayer disappears, when dependence on God is no longer a part of us, when community becomes shallow and mission becomes secondary or preferential?

What happens when a church gathers regularly but forgets why it exists?

Those are broken down walls.

Not physical walls, but they are breaches in our identity and our mission as the people of God.

Just as the walls represented that for the nation of Israel, there is truths and way and ways the church can have those as well.

When our walls are broken down, God wants us to go from ruin to revival.

We are his people.

We are called to display his glory and declare his gospel.

And that is why Nehemiah 3 is so significant for us.

Chapter 1, we saw begins with one man carrying a burden.

When God begins to do a work, he first starts by burdening our hearts.

Chapter 2 ended with the people hearing the vision and declaring together, let us rise up and build.

We studied that last week.

Now in chapter 3, they begin to actually take their place in the work of going from ruin to revival, to reestablishing the glory of God in Jerusalem, to get back to the place of flourishing.

And here's what's cool: priests and rulers and craftsmen and merchants and families and people from surrounding towns stand beside one another to do the work.

Each of them accepts a responsibility for a particular section.

No one person could rebuild Jerusalem, but together they begin restoring what had been broken.

And through their united, uh comp uh uh cooperating faithfulness, Jerusalem once again begins to reflect the identity and purposes that God had given his people to have.

And that's the same thing a church needs.

A local church like ours needs that.

It needs the body.

It's not one man's job.

We're gonna see, it's not one person's individual responsibility.

This is our job and our calling and our opportunity to make sure that this is a group of people that gathers here in this city for the glory of God, to understand our identity as Christians and a church, and to live on the mission that He has called us to live on.

Now, there are some chapters in the Bible that immediately feel like preaching texts.

Like you read a chapter and you're like, oh man, I'm gonna preach that.

You don't read chapter three and think, I can't wait to preach chapter three.

You read it, some of you did, some of you went ahead and you should, and you're like, what's he gonna do with this?

Can't wait to see.

But come to Nehemiah chapter three, and it really reads like a construction report.

It is filled with unfamiliar names, repeated phrases, gates and towers and houses and districts and sections of the wall that we don't even know what that means and what's going on.

And so at first glance, it may seem like a chapter to just kind of summarize quickly so that we can move on to chapter four.

But I want you to see that chapter three is not an interruption in the story of Nehemiah.

I would say and argue today that it is an essential part of the story.

Again, at the end of chapter two, the people say, Let us rise up and build.

Then the text says, so they strengthened their hands for the good work, and chapter three shows us what their response looked like.

The people did not merely applaud Nehemiah's vision.

They did not hold a meeting, a meeting, and express enthusiasm and then return to life as usual.

They weren't like, that was a great message, Nehemiah.

Thank you for that.

I've got lunch, I gotta get to.

They got to work, they organized and they leaned in, they stood up, stepped forward, and took responsibility for their role in this.

So Nehemiah 3 is where vision becomes participation.

It's where agreement with the vision becomes action.

It is where we say, go from somebody saying someone ought to do something to this is the part I will do.

And so I'm not going to read the chapter.

I intended to, but I want you to think about it.

We're going to read it as we go.

So you're going to understand what's going on here.

You probably already read it.

I'd encourage you to read it.

But what I want you to get from chapter three is this big idea that we're going to unpack for the next few minutes.

It's this God advances his work as his people faithfully take their place in it.

The advancing of God in his work, it happens, it picks up steam.

It begins to form as his people will faithfully take their place in the work that God is doing.

Again, this isn't just a construction project.

This isn't just about building a wall.

This is about re-establishing the honor of God in the place where God was to be worshipped and represented.

So what chapter three is going to show us is how we, the people of God, take our place in a work that God is doing.

How do we go from ruin to revival, from loss of identity and purpose to reclaiming of it?

That's what we're going to get to together when his people faithfully take their place in it.

Okay, so there's four things I need you to get.

Four truths, uh, four four ways that God calls us to be faithful in participating in the work that he is building.

I want you to jot him down if you have your notes open there.

We'll do it this way God advances his work when you and I accept our responsibility.

God advances his work when you and I accept his responsibility.

Okay, so let's get to the text.

So he ends chapter two.

The people say, Let's go, let's rise up and build.

Yes, Nehemiah, we're in.

Let's go.

We'll strengthen our hands, we're gonna encourage our hearts, we're gonna do this, we're gonna be faithful, we're gonna step in.

And then chapter three begins with the description of the people coming together.

Says, then Eliashid, the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priests, and they built the sheep gate.

They consecrated it and set its doors, and they consecrated it as far as the tower of the hundred, as far as the tower of Hananel.

And next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them Zachir, the son of Imri built, the sons of Hasannah built the fish gate, they laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts and its bars, and next to them Merrimouth, the son of Uriah, son of Hakaz, repaired, and next to them Mesholim, the son of Barekiah, son of Meshezabol, I think that's how you say that, repaired, and next to them Zadok, the son of Banah, repaired, and next to them the Tekolites repaired.

You see what we're doing?

He's just going through this this family did this, and this family did that, and this family did their family did that work.

And the cool thing that takes place here is what we're gonna see is several unique situations that are described in this construction report.

In fact, I want you to see it in verse 1.

There's one that lays on the pages for us.

It says, Then Eliashib the high priest rose up.

Don't miss that.

The first name recorded, the first name recorded in this order is Eliashib the high priest, the highest spiritual leader in the nation.

Did not stand at a distance and supervise everyone else.

He rose up, grabbed his hammer, and began to build.

The word rose up connects naturally with the people's declaration in the previous chapter.

Let us rise up and build.

So one man took the lead and said, I'm gonna go, let's go.

Eliashib helped lead in turning the declaration into action.

He didn't merely endorse the vision from his high priestly status, but he embraced responsibility for it.

And principles lie all over this for us.

Leadership does not mean doing everything.

Wise leaders must delegate, but spiritual leadership can never mean asking others to carry sacrifices that we refuse to carry ourselves.

Good leaders don't ask others to do the things that they're not willing to do themselves.

Leaders give credibility to the vision when they personally take part in the work.

This is the father who says, You guys should go to church.

I'm not.

That's not how that works.

Spiritual leaders say, we are going to church, and I'm gonna be the first in the car honking the horn for you to get out here.

Let's go.

Amen?

Come on, I'm not the only one who wants to get there on time.

Eliashib, the high priest, repaired the sheep gate.

This gate was near the temple area and may have been used to bring sheep into the city for sacrifice.

The priests repaired the section closest to their calling.

They consecrated it to the Lord, and they began with what God had placed before them.

And the pattern appears repeatedly throughout the chapter.

In verse 10, Jediah repaired opposite his house.

In verse 23, Benjamin and Hashub repaired opposite their house.

Azariah repaired beside his own house.

In verse 28, the priests repaired opposite their houses, and in verse 30, Mesholim repaired opposite his chamber.

This was an enormous need surrounding the entire city, but each person accepted responsibility for a particular section.

Now, here's another lesson, let's get to.

And important for ministry.

You are not responsible for the entire wall, but you are responsible for the section that God has entrusted to you.

Sometimes the size of the need becomes an excuse for inactivity, doesn't it?

We see brokenness everywhere.

There are people who need the gospel everywhere.

Marriages all over the place need help.

Children, so many children need discipleship.

Guests need welcoming.

Believers need encouragement.

Students need guidance.

Missionaries need support.

Ministries need workers.

And because we have all of this to do, we cannot do everything.

We are tempted to do nothing.

I love this illustrated for us in uh catastrophe.

And when a hurricane hits or a tornado hits or something along those lines in one of those places.

And by the way, uh, can we not all agree that one of the reasons we love living in Las Vegas is those things just don't happen here.

If you have an air conditioner, you're good, right?

I mean, it may be hellish, but it's cool in my house, and I'm okay.

But when the hurricane hits and and and flooding is happening, I love watching it.

I watch it with amazement because people jump in their boats and drive down the streets in the flooding and they help each other.

There's homes that are broken.

The whole city is a mess.

And one dude in a bass boat cannot fix every problem.

But everyone jumps in to help.

Everyone.

Debris is scattered along the entire streets.

And one homeowner walks outside, looks at the whole neighborhood, and thinks there's no way I can clean all this up, so I might as well not do anything.

Well, other people say, No, we can do this.

I'll do my part, you do your part, and there is a collaboration in the work of helping relieve the pressure of the brokenness.

And here's true for us: God has never asked one believer to do everything, but he calls every believer to do something.

Ephesians 4 says that Christ gave leaders to the church for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

Notice who performs the work of ministry?

The saints.

The saints, that's y'all.

That's not the people who have been given sainthood.

Scripture is clear that every believer in Jesus Christ is called a saint.

We call that the sainthood of the believer.

You are a saint if you've placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

And by the way, being a saint doesn't mean you're perfect.

It's not one of those things like, oh, that person's a saint because they never sinner.

That's not what that means.

It means you've trusted Christ.

You've placed faith in Christ.

You are sainted.

And here he says that he is given the leadership of the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

That's all y'all.

That's us together.

Pastors in ministry, leaders do not exist to perform all the ministry while everyone else sits on the sidelines and observes.

Leaders equip God's people so that the whole body can participate.

Paul continues in Ephesians 4, 16, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Each part is the New Testament equivalent to next to him in Nehemiah 3.

The church grows as every member acts responsibly and accepts responsibility for the contribution that God has entrusted to him or to her.

Every believer has received grace to serve.

We saw that in 1 Corinthians.

Every believer has been placed within the body.

Every believer has a people to love, a truth to speak, prayers to offer, resources to steward, and a gospel work to embrace.

You are not insignificant in this work.

It does not mean every believer has the same responsibility.

Remember, some repaired gates, some repaired walls, some repaired towers, some repaired sections, some repaired smaller portions.

Responsibility did not require sameness.

And that's exactly what's true here.

One person teaches, another person welcomes, another person gives, another person worships, another person disciples, another person visits the herding, another person prepares room before anyone arrives, another person makes sure the kids are taken care of, another person pressure washes the sidewalk, another person picks up the mess in the worship center, another person serves.

This is how the body grows together, and there is uh differing in assignments, but all of them contributing to the health and the mission of the body.

Some workers in Nehemiah even accepted responsibility for more than one section.

Meramoth is named in verse 4 and in verse 21.

Repairing a second section.

The Tekowites appear in verse 5 and in verse 27.

Once their assigned position was complete, they apparently saw another need and stepped into that need.

What a novel idea.

That's not my job.

I don't care.

Clean that up.

Right?

That's what I say to my kids.

I'm really illustrating that.

The text does not criticize those who repaired one section, but he certainly mentions the fact that there were some who stepped into a double assignment.

Here's the question that that brings up for me is this Am I looking for the least I can do?

Or am I genuinely available for whatever God entrusts to me?

At Life Church, accepting responsibility begins by rejecting the idea that ministry belongs to the staff.

Well, that's why we have y'all around, isn't it, right?

The pastors are here, they they take care of that, or the small group leaders.

That's why they listen, the unusually committed volunteers, they'll take care of it.

But the mission that we have that all may know Christ and make him known belongs to the entire church family.

Every one of us can ask, what portion of the work has God placed before me, okay?

Owning responsibility.

We accept our responsibility.

We accept it.

You're part of this.

This is a beautiful thing.

This is the beautiful church that God has built here in Las Vegas, that He's called you to be a part of, and we have a teamwork that is available for us to accept our role in it.

That's number one.

Number two, God advances his work when you and I offer our availability.

So accept responsibility.

You have one.

Now we offer our availability.

Now, as Nehemiah moves around the wall, I just imagine him walking around the wall being like, they're doing that, and they're doing that.

And oh man, look who's there.

That's the verse two, he says, and next to him, the men of Jericho built.

Now, just understand what that's saying.

These men weren't even living in Jerusalem.

They were in Jericho, and Jericho was about 15 to 20 miles away and far below Jerusalem in elevation.

The text doesn't tell us whether or not they traveled back and forth during the construction or stayed near the project, but their identification makes one fact clear.

It is recorded for us in Scripture that they did not conclude that Jerusalem's condition was someone else's problem.

They could have said, Well, we live in Jericho, our neighborhood's still pretty good.

I mean, our walls did come crumbling down at one point in our history, but they're fine now.

Let the people of Jerusalem repair Jerusalem.

Instead, they recognize that the restoration of the city of God mattered to all God's people.

By the way, faithful servants do not begin by asking, why should I have to help?

They begin by asking, how can I help?

Distance did not exempt the men of Jericho.

Inconvenience did not excuse them.

Fifteen miles was not the problem to keep them back.

The fact that the need was not directly outside their own front doors did not make them indifferent.

Some people repaired walls right outside their front doors, other people traveled 20 miles to get the job done.

This is an important connection to a consumer view of being a part of the church.

Consumers ask, does this directly benefit me?

Is this convenient for my family?

Is this gonna cost me anything?

Servants ask, will this advance the mission?

Will this strengthen the church?

Will this help others know Christ and make him known?

Will this be uh risen for the glory of God?

The men of Jericho modeled that for us, and I love them for that.

Verse 8 introduces another surprising worker.

Look at it in verse 8.

Next to them, Uziel, the son of Harhiah, goldsmiths, repaired, and next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers repaired.

Now, I'm not an expert, but goldsmiths and perfumers were certainly skilled craftsmen, but I'm pretty sure wall construction was not part of their normal occupation.

Would we agree with that?

In fact, a goldsmith worked with precious metals and delicate tools.

A perfumer prepared spices, oils, and fragrances.

These were people that you might think work in a department store rather than a construction site.

Now, look, I don't want to be unkind because they may have been incredible craftsmen, but neither trade naturally suggests the hauling of stones, the fitting of timbers, the installing of bolts, and the clearing of rubble.

We cannot say for sure that they possess no construction ability, but the text does not tell us all of that.

But Nehemiah deliberately identifies them by a profession other than the building.

Why?

Because whatever his previous experience was, he made himself available for an unfamiliar assignment.

Listen, we may say things like, Well, that's just not my gifting.

I just, I just don't, I don't like people.

Well, maybe.

When what we really mean is just that's not my preference.

Listen, spiritual gifts matter.

They do.

The New Testament teaches that God distributes gifts throughout the body and we should serve as good stewards of the grace he has given us.

But notice this, please.

Gifts were never intended to be an excuse for refusing ordinary acts of service.

There are moments when the question is not, is this my ideal ministry role?

The question is, does something need to be done and can I do it?

A mature believer learns to distinguish between long-term ministry assignments and present opportunities and needs to serve.

Listen, you may not be called to spend your life in construction, but you can still help repair a wall.

You may not be a gifted teacher, but you can still encourage a child in a class.

You may not be a worship leader, but you sure can't still worship wholeheartedly.

You may not be an expert counselor, but you can come alongside of a friend and listen and pray and walk beside them while they're hurting.

You may not know everything required for ministry, but you can begin by making yourself teachable and available.

Listen, God often develops ability in people who first offer availability.

I want you to think about it this way.

Back in the beginning of the World War II, millions of men left civilian occupations to serve in the military.

The country was in sudden need for people to build bombers and ships and tanks and ammunition.

American factories, they they faced an enormous shortage of workers.

And you know who stepped up?

I love it because the story is well recorded for us.

The women who had never worked in heavy industry stepped into shipyards and aircraft factories.

The women who had never welded began to weld and rivet and operate machinery and assemble aircrafts.

Many did not begin with experience normally associated with those jobs.

They began with a willingness to learn because the work needed to be done.

Women like Anne Mae Cryer helped construct thousands of B-17s and B-29 bombers.

Or Connie Palacios worked on the nose section of B-29s.

Their availability helped supply the larger mission.

And from these women, an allegorical cultural icon emerged that was called Rosie the Riveter.

There she is.

Rosie the Riveter.

She was a cultural icon, and what she represented was this: the women of America who learned new jobs, not because they were able, but because they were needed and they made themselves available.

I love it.

So listen, you may be a goldsmith or a perfumer, and that's cool.

That's great.

That's awesome.

That does not necessarily mean that you cannot make yourself available to wield a hammer if the call happens to be that.

The rest of the chapter widens the circle.

You can take Nancy uh Rosie off.

Rosie's Rosie's awesome.

But the rest of the chapter widens the circle even further.

Priests worked, rulers worked, goldsmiths worked, perfumers worked, merchants worked, temple servants worked, people from Jericho, Tekoa, Gibeon, Mizpah, Zenoah, Beth Hakarim, Beth Zur, and Calah, I slaughtered some of those.

They all worked.

They all worked.

Verse 12 tells us that Shalom repaired his section with his daughters.

I love that Nehemiah kept that in there.

I love that.

Because in a culture in which construction record uh records would normally emphasize male heads of households doing the work, this guy brought his daughters to work and they probably killed it.

Because daughters can do stuff like that.

The work reached across professions, geography, social standings, and family lines.

Listen, here's what I'm getting at.

I'm saying all this to say the chapter is not the story of a professional construction crew arriving to rescue helpless residents.

It's not Habitat for Humanity showing up or Samaritan's purse showing up or sinned relief showing up to help them.

It is the story of God's people bringing themselves to the work.

It's before we ever get to giftedness, it is the offering of our bodies, a living sacrifice.

Not here is the limited category in which I'm willing to help, but Lord, here I am.

Everything I am belongs to you.

God, I'm a goldsmith, but if you think I can lay some stones, I'll do it.

Let's go.

I'll strengthen my hand for this.

Availability, by the way, you know, does not mean saying yes to everything.

None of us has unlimited time and energy or capacity.

Sometimes it requires us saying no, but there is a difference between prayerful limitations and habitual unwillingness.

The available heart says, Show me, Lord, where you want me.

Use my experience if it's helpful.

I can contribute to the work that you're doing here.

I often say the greatest ability a Christian can have is availability.

More people, more children, more students, more work, more people to know the gospel, more prayers to be offered, more generosity, more organizational leadership, more humble hands.

The men of Jericho could have claimed distance, the perfumers could have claimed inexperience, the rulers could have claimed more important responsibilities.

Shalom's family could have assumed the work belonged to someone else.

Instead, they took their place.

So the question is really am I allowing inconvenience, inexperience, fear, or personal preference keeping me from serving?

God advances his work.

Not just when we accept our responsibility, we have one, but when we offer our availability.

That's number two.

Okay, we good?

Number two, notice what else I pick from this.

God advances his work when you and I serve with humility.

Nehemiah chapter 3 contains a series of contrasts.

Nehemiah 3 · chapter mention

You're gonna notice them as I unpack them.

That exposes hearts behind service.

The chapter begins with the high priest working with his hands.

Eliashib.

I already mentioned this.

The highest spiritual office in the nation did not consider physical labor beneath him.

So here's the guy that actually nobody would have faulted him if he's like, Look, guys, I'm the high priest, been doing this for a while.

I will bring waters and snacks and I'll pray for you.

But let's get to work.

But he didn't.

He grabs his toolbox and he says, Let's go.

Then in verse 5, we meet a different group.

Notice that in verse 5.

It says next to them, the last part of verse 5, the Techolites repaired.

So these people from this Tekoa region repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

The expression would not stoop pictures someone refusing to bring his neck or shoulder under a burden.

There's some differences of opinion on how to translate the last phrase to serve their Lord.

Depending on how the final phrase is understood, the nobles refuse to submit to their supervisors.

It could be lowercase lord, their lords or their supervisors of their area, or their unwillingness to work for the Lord.

Either way, the central point is clear.

They would not place themselves under the responsibility that others were carrying.

They refused.

They wouldn't stoop.

The issue wasn't inability.

Sorry.

The issues were inability.

They were nobles, they possessed influence, resources, and standing.

The problem was unwillingness.

They considered themselves above the assignment.

They refused to submit to its direction.

The refusal is even more striking because of the faithfulness of the ordinary people in Tekoa.

Did you notice that?

The people of Tekoa repaired a section in verse 5.

Then they appear again in verse 27, repairing another section, while their nobles would not stoop themselves down to actually do anything.

The Tekkowites could have made their leaders' failure their excuse.

They could have said, if our nobles are not helping, then why should we?

But instead they refuse to let someone else's disobedience become justification for their own.

We see this, don't we?

Kids in our house.

Hey, get up and clean your room.

Why?

They're not.

She's not.

Why should I?

Hey, Tech Coites, you guys want to do anything?

No, our nobles aren't doing anything.

We're not gonna do anything.

But this teaches us something vital.

Another person's refusal does not excuse my unfaithfulness.

It's easy to focus on who is not here or who is not giving or who is not serving or who does not appear as committed as we are.

But listen, on the day of judgment, I will not answer for whether the person beside me has not accepted their responsibility.

I will answer for how I accepted mine.

Then verse 14 gives us the opposite example.

Look at this.

Then Malkaijah, the son of Rachab, rulers of the district of Beth Hakarim, repaired the dungate.

Now I don't know if that means anything to you, but first of all, Malkaijah was a district ruler, a man recognized with authority, yet he was the one who was volunteering to repair the dungate.

Now that sounds exactly like it is.

That's where the refuse of the city was delivered.

This is the sewer system of Jerusalem.

That was the gate through which the city's waste was carried out towards the valley of Hinnem.

It was necessary, but it was certainly not glamorous.

It stunk and it smelled and it was not the best place to be.

And if assignments were distributed according to social status, then Malkaijah might have expected a gate with a better name than the dung gate.

But yet there he was.

He might have looked at his title and concluded that someone else should handle the bathroom.

But he accepted the section that was given to him.

Now look at the contrast.

Let's put this together.

A district ruler repaired the dungate.

The ordinary Tekkowites repaired two sections, while the nobles of Tekoa would not bend their necks.

Some prominent people serve humbly, while other prominent people refuse.

The issue was the heart.

See, humble service does not ask, is this task worthy of me?

Do they know that I am the ruler of the district of Beth Hackeram?

Humility asks, will this help accomplish God's work?

Take him or like him or hate him, you can decide.

But I remember reading about President Jimmy Carter after serving as President of the United States.

He spent the remainder of his life, uh, could have actually spent the remainder of his life just giving speeches and appearing at ceremonies and all of the things that you would expect maybe an ex-president to do.

But he and his wife Rosalind became hands-on workers for the Habitat of Humanity volunteers.

They were there.

There's actually a lot of documentation of this.

The Habitat for Humanity actually speaks about it a lot.

Beginning in 1984, the president worked beside just ordinary volunteers, future homeowners, renovating and constructing homes.

He didn't just lend his name to the organization.

He could have done that, but he used hammers, he climbed ladders, he participated in the physical work for decades.

And uh Habitat described the Carters on their website as some of its best hands-on construction volunteers.

Now he said this.

He said, My faith demands that I do whatever I can wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try and make a difference.

In Mark 10, Jesus redefined greatness for his people.

The rulers of the Gentiles, Lord authority over others.

But Jesus said, That shall not be so among you.

Whoever would be great must become a servant, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

Philippians tells us that our Savior did more than repair an undesirable gate.

Tells us that although he existed in the form of God, he did not cling to the privileges of his position, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant.

He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

And in John chapter 13, it shows us that Jesus, the Lord of glory, wrapped himself in a towel and got down and washed dirty feet.

John 13 · chapter mention

Then he tells his disciples, I have given you an example that you should also do just as I have done.

At the cross, Jesus took the lowest place to accomplish the greatest work.

Listen, Jimmy Carter moved from the White House to a construction site.

Jesus came from heaven's throne to a servant's towel and ultimately to a criminal's cross.

And no Christian can look at the crucified Jesus and insist that act of service is beneath me.

We can't do it.

Humility is willing to repair the Dungate because the Dungate matters to the strength of the city.

It might be the changing of a diaper in the nursery, the equivalent to the dungate, or the unglamorous position, or the fixing of a toilet, or what so many people do around here on a weekly basis.

Something that on Saturday nobody will notice that two guys were out here spray pressure washing the sidewalk so that it was clean and ready.

And nobody would know all the things that different individuals, the list would be too long for me to name all of them.

Nobody would know, and that's what is the servant.

That's the greatest in the kingdom.

The kingdom of Christ advances through towel and basin service.

Not merely talking about an unpleasant assignment, not merely taking it, but submitting and contributing to the larger work.

So the question comes from this Is there any act of Service that I consider beneath me or any area in which pride keeps me from submitting to God's work.

God advances his work when you and I serve with humility.

That's number three.

One more, we're done.

God advances his work when you and I, number four, work in unity.

Work in unity.

Humility is not only the willingness to do something small, it is the willingness to make my contribution serve the mission rather than my ego.

Now I want you to see this because you're gonna have to read it later, and I really want you to.

But the dominant sound of Nehemiah 3 is a repetitive phrase.

Next to him.

Next to them.

After him, after them.

It goes on throughout the entire chapter, 31 times from verses 1 through verse 32.

This phrase is used again and again and again and again.

And I don't think this was an exhaustive list of everybody who served, but he certainly was emphasizing some.

And those phrases may at first feel monotonous when we read the chapter, but it carries the theology of what was going on here.

God was joining individual acts of faithfulness into one united work.

No worker rebuilt the whole wall, no one family possessed all the resources, and no profession had every skill.

Yet each person could take a place beside someone else.

They were different.

They had different people, different contributions, but the same Lord and the same mission.

In 1 Corinthians, the the the wall construction is likened to a body.

That we are not just workers on a wall, that we are part of a body.

That we are eyes and hands and the head, and the eye is not the hand, and the head is not the foot.

There is diversity in of the members in God's design.

We studied that in 1 Corinthians 12.

Listen, there is a whole group of people united for the same purpose and the same mission and the same focus that make not only this church operate, but they make the big C, Capital C church, global church work and people advancing the gospel and the mission of the church advancing and the glory of God being on display and the salt and light work that we are doing in our respective countries and around the world collectively happens because we are united together in one mission submitted to the same Lord in unity.

The connection of the wall was a pretty big deal because one beautifully completed section could not secure the city if the portion beside it remained open.

It took everybody doing their part and uniting it together.

Listen, our service here is more connected than we realize.

When one person teaches children in kids' life, parents are strengthened.

When one person welcomes a guest, the preaching ministry is supported.

When one person ministers through maintaining a safe and orderly, secure environment, the gospel ministry can happen without unnecessary distractions.

When a small group leader cares well for people, the entire church becomes healthier.

When members give generously, ministries they may have never personally entered are made possible.

Listen, we all together have a role to fill, and when we do this, recognizing uh the unity that it takes to accomplish this, incredible things are accomplished for the glory of God.

And this all comes because the mission is clear.

We are suffering derision, we are ashamed, we are a laughing stock.

Let's do this.

The glory of God is what we're after, the work of God is what we're after.

We have a shared vision, and we all together work to make this happen in unity.

When the mission is clear, small assignments take on eternal significance.

And when we work in unity to accomplish that, man, it is a beautiful thing.

Look at verse 20.

Let me show you one last thing.

After him, Baruch the son of Zabi repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

So he connected the parts.

Now, one cool thing here in the English Standard Version, which I'm reading out of, says that Baruch the son repaired another section.

Many translations, though, take that word and add another word for clarity, an adverb that says he zealously or earnestly or vigorously repaired.

I love that.

Because in a chapter filled with workers, the Spirit of God leads Nehemiah to single out the spirit with which one man worked.

He had full of zeal.

He was zealous and eager and vigorous about the work.

He was like, Let's go.

This is the guy that's like shaming everybody.

He's just plopping blocks around.

He's like, here I'll help you with that.

Here I'll help you with that.

And you're like, bro, chill, you're making us all look bad.

That's Baruch.

And I love that because he points it out, and this really is Romans 12, 11.

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

And in the Old Testament, we've got this guy who wasn't slothful in zeal.

Wholehearted service.

Strengthening the unity, the momentum of everyone around them was moving forward.

They united together for a beautiful thing, and we're going to see in just a very short amount of time, this massive wall was completed because there were a group of people who were part of the advancing of the work of God who accepted their individual responsibility.

Who offered their availability, who served in humility, and did a work for the uh in unity with the brothers and sisters around them doing the work together.

So let's settle this.

Let's finish this out.

At the first, the names of Nehemiah may seem like the least memorable part of the work.

The book may be all sorts of other good things, but chapter three, take it or leave it, most of these people never appear in another famous biblical story.

In fact, as you leave today, you're gonna forget all of their names, as am I.

They didn't defeat an army, they didn't stand before a giant, they didn't speak to a king, they weren't involved in performing a miracle, they repaired gates, they set beams, they installed bolts and bars, they cleared rubble, lifted stones, and made sure the dung had a place to go.

That's what they did.

But God recorded their names.

And the world may not have considered their assignments remarkable, but God saw each person who took a place on the wall, He saw the high priest at the sheepgate, he saw the men who came from Jericho, He saw the guy who's normally mixing perfumes, doing an unfamiliar work.

He saw the man and his daughters, he saw the guy at the dung gate, he saw the Tekawites working even when their nobles would not.

He saw Baruch working with zeal.

He saw every person repairing the section near their home.

And Hebrews 6:10 gives us a promise in regards to that.

Hebrews 6:10

For God is not so unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do.

God sees the service, no one applauds.

God sees the volunteer who arrives early and leaves late.

He sees the parent opening the Bible with a child at the end of the day that's busy and tired.

He sees the person who gives quietly, who prays privately, who welcomes another warmly, who prepares their work carefully, who serves consistently, never with bells and whistles and flashing lights.

He sees the act of love that never appears on the platform before the spotlights.

So the question is not whether or not everyone knows your name, the question is whether or not you are faithful in the place that God has given you to serve.

The larger story of Scripture makes it clear that our greatest problem was not broken down walls, our greatest problem was a broken relationship with God caused by sin.

We could not repair that breach through our effort, morality, service, or sacrifice.

We needed someone to do that for us and what we could never do for ourselves, and Jesus Christ accomplished that.

So before you sit here and think, I need to find my place on the wall because I need to get pleasing to God.

No, the start of the work of repairing the wall or involved in the church doesn't begin with you taking a hammer.

It begins with you trusting Christ as your Savior.

And then when you trust Christ as your Savior, when He changes you and saves you and gives you a new life, you then have a part in the body to serve and make yourself available and use your ability and live in humility and in unity to do the work that He has called us to do.

So the question really is: will you accept your responsibility?

Will you offer your availability?

Will you serve with humility and will you work in unity to accomplish this, by the way, incredible thing that God is doing here at our church and around the world?

He is building his church and he is doing an incredible job doing it.

And he is inviting us to take our spot on the work that he is accomplishing here.

Let's step into that.

Amen?

Let us rise up and build, join with our brothers and sisters and accomplish what God wants to do.

All right, I'm out of time.

Let me pray.

Father, thank you for your word, how it applies to our lives, and what it says to us.

Thank you for teaching us from the nation of Israel what it's like to build the wall, what it's like to be a part of this thing that is being accomplished.

And God, before I ever get down the road very far here, I just want to make sure that you protect us from hearing the work on the wall is what it means to become a Christian.

That's not it at all.

The work on the wall is the work of your people who've already been made a part of your family.

And so I pray that if someone's here, that they would not hear this sermon and think I better get to work.

It's more I want to trust this Savior so that I can be a part of this great thing he is doing.

And then I pray those of us who've trusted Christ, those of us who've been saved, those of us who are the saints, as Peter says we are, that we would say, you know, there's a part I can do.

I can't do everything, but I can do something.

I may not have much ability, but the greatest ability I have is my availability.

I can do it, I can serve, I can contribute.

And I want to live in humility and serve in unity.

I pray that we would look at these brothers and sisters from the Old Testament in Jerusalem, building walls, and may we take some lessons from them and apply them to our lives here in this stage of history.

On this side of the cross, it's even more fuel for us to serve in this way.

And we're thankful for the opportunity we have to do this thing, be a part of this great thing that you are up to.

And we thank you for this in Jesus' name.

Amen.